Just as the Core Formation cultivator within the formation slowed, over a dozen crystalline, snow-white ice spears shot out from the seawater to one side without warning, viciously lunging toward his back.
Elder Gu’s originally clumsy body suddenly regained its agility. He actually swayed, turning around, then raised a hand and shot out a massive yellow crescent blade. In the blink of an eye, it shattered the ambushing ice spears with a series of *crackling* sounds and, without slowing down at all, shot straight toward the direction the ice spears had come from.
At the same time, the seawater behind Elder Gu abruptly parted, and a bloody crimson light beam shot out fiercely. Because the speed was too fast and the distance too short, and with Elder Gu restrained by the formation, he had no time to dodge. His face slightly changed, and a brilliant yellow light surged around his body as he forcefully took the hit.
The arm-thick blood light struck, sending this Core Formation cultivator stumbling forward two steps, unsteady on his feet.
But right at that moment, a blue light flashed to one side, and Han Li appeared out of thin air next to Elder Gu, both hands gripping a massive silver greatsword, which he viciously slashed down diagonally.
This time, Elder Gu was truly greatly alarmed! There had clearly been no one there moments ago. What kind of movement technique was the other party using to be so bizarre?
Though shocked, the yellow light around his body instinctively swelled violently, preparing to harden against Han Li’s greatsword.
Han Li let out a light laugh, and his person actually vanished before his eyes. Instead, the sound of *whooshing* air came from all around as over a dozen red threads, fine as bowstrings, suddenly appeared in the surroundings and viciously stabbed inward.
“Flying needles!” Elder Gu was horrified! He naturally knew much about these infamous “insidious weapons” in the cultivation world. Immediately, the yellow light around his body blazed brightly; he wanted to destroy these vile magical instruments immediately to avoid being ambushed unknowingly.
With a loud *boom*, Han Li flashed into existence behind him and slashed down with his sword, causing the yellow radiance to waver immediately. Then, the dozen or so red threads, like venomous snakes, bizarrely drilled into the yellow radiance, piercing through several feet instantly and continuing to bore forward relentlessly.
Elder Gu, both shocked and furious, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, reached out a hand toward his storage pouch. By now, he somewhat understood: under the combined pressure of the opponent’s formation and these bizarre attacks, his heavily depleted vitality meant relying on just one magic treasure seemed unlikely to lead to victory.
But before he could retrieve anything else, two thumb-thick blood streaks flashed and vanished before him, then shot into his protective yellow radiance with unparalleled sharpness.
The yellow radiance, already flickering and dimmed from Han Li’s silver sword strike and from restraining those flying needles, was easily pierced through by these unremarkable blood streaks.
Elder Gu’s face turned deathly pale!
But he was, after all, a Core Formation cultivator. The moment the blood streaks pierced his protective yellow light, he sensed the danger. Ignoring retrieving any treasure, he violently threw his body to the side.
Instantly, one blood streak shot past, narrowly missing his ear, taking with it a large piece of flesh from one ear. Although the other blood streak missed his heart’s vital point, it left a small hole on his shoulder that gushed blood. The pain made Elder Gu cry out “Aiyo!” as his legs went soft, nearly causing him to kneel on the ground.
But Han Li’s assault didn’t stop there. Qu Hun’s tall figure shot out from the seawater, raised both hands, and two beams of bloody light urgently sprayed forth.
Simultaneously, Han Li, expressionless, swung the silver sword with one hand into a large ball of silver light, continuously battering the yellow radiance, emitting an extremely ear-piercing *scraping* sound! His other hand took out a thick stack of talismans, instantly releasing countless fireballs and ice spikes. Immediately, multicolored glows and explosive sounds rang out incessantly.
Recovering from the sharp pain, Elder Gu grew panicked. He clearly felt that under the immense pressure of the formation and the opponent’s relentless attacks, the “Primal Chaos Bowl” was consuming too much magic power; it couldn’t sustain the consumption of the protective yellow radiance much longer.
In his terror, regardless of the consequences, he was about to use a secret art to forcibly extract magic power once more when Han Li’s incantation chant, icy cold, rang out just before he could act.
Immediately, the surrounding seawater began to spin wildly, and then the immense pressure bearing down on him instantly multiplied several times over. The last remnants of yellow light around him emitted a *creaking* whine. Under his incredulous gaze, the yellow light surrounding him vanished without a trace. The freed dozen-plus flying needles immediately flashed red and shot through vital points on his body. Elder Gu’s body swayed several times before he finally half-kneeled on the ground.
A silver light flashed as Han Li, silent, flashed past his side. Then, the esteemed head of this Six United Palace elder flew several yards away.
Blood immediately spurted several feet high, and a thick, bloody smell instantly spread out.
Han Li heaved a great sigh of relief! But he immediately lunged back to the corpse, snatching the storage pouch at its waist in one grab.
Simultaneously, Qu Hun picked up that yellow bowl-shaped magic treasure.
Then, Han Li, along with Qu Hun, flickered out of the grand formation a few times, summoned the Divine Wind Boat, and immediately soared into the sky on his artifact. After flying just twenty or thirty li, Han Li manipulated the artifact and plunged headfirst into the sea below, submerging several dozen zhang deep.
He then put away the artifact, took out the red light gauze that severed auras, enveloping himself and Qu Hun within it. At the same time, the two employed the nameless chant, refining qi and concealing their presence!
Not long after doing all this, a powerful and furious divine sense descended upon the vicinity, searching around the sea surface and sky in this area.
Although this divine sense checked very carefully, it failed to discover Han Li and Qu Hun’s traces. The frenzied divine sense swept past near the two, then hurriedly chased off to other places.
Only then did Han Li truly feel at ease. Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to immediately reveal himself and float to the surface. He simply released a pale blue protective barrier at the seabed, sheltering the two within it, separating them from the seawater, and sat cross-legged with Qu Hun to rest and recuperate.
They lurked like this in the sea for half a month.
During the first few days of this period, that powerful divine sense seemed unwilling to give up, repeatedly passing over Han Li’s location several times for inspections. But each time, Han Li, foreseeing it early, refined qi and concealed his presence in advance, causing it to return fruitlessly.
Now, this divine sense had completely vanished, not appearing again for over ten days. Only then did Han Li dare to start moving.
He carefully and slowly traveled over a hundred li underwater before emerging from the sea. Identifying a direction, he flew away at full speed.
Naturally, he couldn’t return to Turtle Spirit Island anymore; he had to find another place to settle. Although he didn’t know what unspeakable relationship Elders Gu and Miao of the Six United Palace and that youth called “Wu Chou” had, that they would go so far as to kill to silence witnesses, it certainly wasn’t something his Foundation Establishment cultivation level could get mixed up in. It was best to stay far away from the sphere of influence of those two.
However, it was truly a pity about the cave dwelling on Little寰 Island and those three precious sets of formation tools. Added to the other artifacts lost in the fight, he had really suffered a great loss this time!
Han Li, while madly flying on his artifact, wore a self-mocking bitter smile.
But compared to the likely grim fate of the middle-aged scholar and the others, he had at least preserved his life. There was nothing to complain about!
Just as Han Li was comforting himself, his heart suddenly stirred. He took out Elder Gu’s storage pouch. For the previous period, he had been constantly on edge and hadn’t had the mind to examine this item. Now was the time to look. A Core Formation cultivator’s storage pouch shouldn’t be too shabby, right! Hopefully, it could make up for some of this loss.
Slowly immersing his divine sense into the storage pouch, Han Li was ecstatically shocked by the seventy or eighty mid-grade spirit stones inside.
This Elder Gu’s personal wealth was really considerable! To actually carry so many spirit stones on his person!
Could it be that, like himself, he was accustomed to carrying all his belongings with him? If that were the case, then this many spirit stones might be normal for a Core Formation cultivator of many years!
Thinking this, Han Li finally shifted his attention from the spirit stones to the few other items.
A yellow jade vial about an inch tall, two talismans shimmering with blue and gold, a Daoist book, and a round ball emitting a blue light. The rest were just various odds and ends of worthless things.
The Daoist book was nothing special—a high-grade cultivation method, “Earth Separation Art.” Although it couldn’t be called common goods, he had no intention of practicing it.
Those two talismans, however, were good items. One was a talisman treasure depicting a small golden sword, the other was an unknown talisman with a blue flood dragon drawn on it, which delighted Han Li’s heart.
As for the round ball, Han Li took it out and fiddled with it for a while, finally confirming it was the inner core of some level five demon beast—naturally an extremely rare item.
Finally, only that rather inconspicuous small vial remained. But when Han Li opened the lid of the small yellow vial, five thumb-sized yellow pellets rolled out. These pellets were not only identical in size but also bright in color, crystal-clear and well-proportioned, emitting a strange medicinal fragrance.
“Descent Dust Pills!” Gazing at the pellets in his palm, Han Li was utterly stunned.
Although he had never seen the real thing, the pill’s shape, color, and fragrance were exactly as described in the “Pill Dao Evaluation” he had bought. If it wasn’t this, what else could it be?
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage